Wall or Nothing

A freakishly torrential teatime downpour soon sizzled into heatwave steam and James stepped out of this odd mist as he arrived for Games Night. Films have taught us that anyone stepping out of the mist means business. And it seemed to be playing out, as James snapped up a good start in Alhambra. All the towers came out early and both James and Chris bought these up in a race for walled-in supremacy. Paul tried to quietly amass the middle-ranked buildings.

James was winning after the first scorecard, helped ahead by his lengthy wall. Plus, everything looked neat. He was quietly confident, even though he and Chris had almost entirely walled themselves in, each looking to break out of a small gap. Paul’s Alhambra was much more open-plan.

The patio doors were wide open and waves of heat-addled and rain-battered bugs flew in to attack Chris and his Alhambra. They died as quick a death as Chris’ chances. It was all going haywire. Chris seemed forced to overpay for everything and had to watch all the cards and tiles fall for James and Paul.

As the totals were totted up, James won fairly convincingly with his wall as joined up as a swotty kid’s handwriting. 23 points worth of it. Paul’s wall was a bit more dot-to-dot. Chris came third.

He used to be good at this.

James 166, Paul 147, Chris 116.

.....................

The night had been deemed to be “Paul’s Choice” night. It was always going to be Lords of Waterdeep.

Lovely. A favourite game.

And instantly tense as it became immediately clear the trio were all after skulduggery quests. James snatched up the plot quest that gave him a further 2 points per skulduggery quest completed and everyone wanted an inn full of thieves. The rules needed a check. What happens if there are no thieves left in the pile? Tough luck, was the answer. This had never previously been an issue.

James and Paul scurried off around the score-track. Chris lagged behind. James grabbed a plot quest that gave him an extra two gold each time he picked up a thief. He was soon rolling in it. There was quite a lot of real estate business going on. James tried to set up shops that would provide extra thieves and wizards, also chasing arcane quests as he was. Paul seemed to be up to something. But what? The need for thieves never quite reached crisis point as the trio seemingly swapped to their second set of bonus-driven quests.

 

Paul buys a house

Then it happened. Chris went into super-speed mode. He slapped down quest after quest after quest. Like Tommy Cooper. Now you see it, now you don’t. He forged ahead and when the game ended, Paul had been left lacking. James and Chris nervously examined each other’s piles. Quest cards, adventurers and gold. James had 15 points to add for his unspent dosh alone! But ultimately, Chris had done it. With more completed quest bonuses, he was that night’s Lord of Waterdeep.

Chris 153, James 146, Paul 133.